This Saturday, No. 8 and No. 19 men’s and women’s cross-country will travel to Bethleham, Pennsylavania for the Paul Short Run. Both of teams will look to start the season off with strong performances.

At the Harry Groves Spiked Shoe Club Invitational at Penn State, junior Christian Alvarado led the way for the Hoyas coming in fourth with a time of 26:31.6. Graduate student Michael Crozier (26:43.6) and sophomore Spencer Brown (26:54.7) enjoyed successful season debuts, crossing the finish line in 8th and 12th place respectively. Coach Bonsey praised their performances and expressed optimism about the Hoyas’ early season outlook.

“I think I just want to see where we are right now,” Coach Bonsey said. “I feel really, really good about where the men are fitness-wise and how we looked in practice and how those front three guys at Penn State, Christian Alvarado, Michael Crozier and Spencer Brown, did a really good job. You don’t really know where a team is until they race. I think these guys are kind of anxious to get out there. We are just looking to execute our plans, give a good effort, be tough in the key, and we’ll live with the results after that.”

The Hoyas will see the highly anticipated season debut of senior Jonathan Green. Green had a very successful 2015 cross-country season. Green led the men’s cross country team to their first Big East Championship title since 2008 placing second with a time of 22:40.0 in the 8000m event. Green topped his impressive season off with a time of 29:49.5 (5th place) at the 2015 NCAA National Championship.

Student-athletes such as senior Amos Bartelsmeyer, graduate student Michael Lederhouse, and senior Scott Carpenter all enjoyed successful 2015 seasons. They helped Georgetown capture 10th place overall at the National Championship, helping them come in at No. 8 nationally this season. As a team leader, Carpenter understands that they need to remain focused on performing at each meet, rather than their ranking.

“I don’t think we put too much pressure on our ranking right now,” Carpenter said. “It doesn’t really mean anything. We haven’t even raced yet so nobody knows how good we are. We don’t even know how good we are. So we don’t really think about that too much. We just try to go out there and race to the best of our ability.”

Junior Autumn Eastman will attempt to build on her fast start to the season this weekend. At the Harry Groves Spiked Shoe Club Invitational at Penn State Eastman ran a time of 21:17 and came in 6th place. Eastman was very excited about competing with her teammates again.

“It felt so good. Cross country is one of my favorite times of the year,” Eastman said. “This is the time we get to really come together as a team and show our strongest cards and really work together. After finally having your teammates with you in a race just feels so good.”

Junior Piper Doanghu will look to continue her cross-country dominance from last season this weekend. Donaghu clocked in at a time of 21:34.4 on the 6000m course at the 2015 NCAA National Championship.

Freshman Audrey Belf performed at a high level last year, capturing place at the NCAA Pre-National meet with a time of 20:46.3. Belf showed poise in the Big East Championship, running a time of 20:10.4. This performance scored 11 points.

Eastman is excited to get the season rolling and is living in the moment with her teammates.

“Having these girls to train with every single day is one of the most invaluable experiences I could ever have. It’s strengthened me as a runner and pushes me every day to do my best. And obviously with that comes pressure. We just take it every day. Each day is an opportunity to get better and become a better athlete and a runner and I have all these great girls to do it with,” Eastman said.